BELVIDERE — The NIC-10 has never seen a team quite like Belvidere North before.

Consider: The Blue Thunder beat preseason favorite Hononegah, came from 19 points down in the second half to edge Auburn in the final minute and rallied from 24 down to lead No. 1-ranked Boylan until the final minute.

But North also got hammered by Belvidere, which might not even make the playoffs, and Guilford.

"We've had some performances that weren't indicative of who we thought we were as a team, but also had some games where we played outside of our ability," coach Jeff Beck said.

North (4-4) is no sure thing to be great every night, as Boylan has been for 73 consecutive league games or as Hononegah looks with soon-to-be dual 2,000-yard career rushers Alex Martin and Jake Wilson.

But the young Blue Thunder — who start 10 juniors on offense — can step up in class when needed.

"In their two biggest games, they've shown that their record doesn't mean a whole heck of a lot," Boylan coach John Cacciatore said. "They will be a dangerous team in the playoffs."

The danger that North poses starts with Jace Bankord and Kevin Tevebaugh. The two juniors are having the greatest seasons by any quarterback-receiver combination in conference history.

With 2,086 yards in only eight games, Bankord is 150 yards shy of breaking the season passing record of Freeport's Kevin Flack. With a forfeit this week against Jefferson, Bankord will have to wait until the first round of the Class 6A playoffs to catch the league's three other 2,000-yard passers.

With 861 yards on 44 catches, Tevebaugh joins East's Austin Young as the only receiver in conference history to average more than 100 yards per game and stands a good chance to join Hononegah's Scott Van Schelven (1,143 yards) and Young (1,076) as the league's only 1,000-yard receivers.

Bankord already ranks fourth in career passing yards (3,496) and Tevebaugh seventh in receiving (1,325) with more than a year to play.

"Bankord can throw that deep ball very accurately. He's hard to stop when he gets in a rhythm. Not many high school kids throw a 40-yard post on the money, and he can do so over and over again when he gets his feet underneath him. He's the complete package.

"They feel with that kid on their side, there is never a deficit that's too large for them. He's especially effective late in the game. Your people get tired pass rushing up front. He wears people down."

Both Cacciatore and Appino also praised Bankord's feet.

"He's not easy to make uncomfortable and he gets the ball off when he needs to," Cacciatore said. "He buys extra time and he still stays pretty accurate and keeps his eyes down the field when he's on the move.

"And he's not throwing to chopped liver, either."

Cacciatore knows that better than anyone. No NIC-10 quarterback has ever passed for more than 250 yards against Boylan except for Bankord, who threw for 295 as a sophomore and 378 last week. Tevebaugh had 85 and 165 yards in those two games.

But the Blue Thunder have other talented targets in Kyle Hartfiel, Jeff Young and Travis Dworzynski. North had three 100-yard receivers in its win over Hononegah and three 80-yard receivers against Harlem.

"We have a lot of guys who can catch the ball," Tevebaugh said, "and Jace is good at reading defenses and throwing the ball in spots where only the receiver can get it. When there's other guys making plays, teams can't focus on me. It gets everybody open."

Bankord has also gotten good protection from his young line.

"We've all been together a long time and have a great connection," lineman Justin Rosendahl said. "We know who is going to do what on each play. We keep it simple and protect him."

"It's pretty easy when you have a quarterback like Jace who puts the ball right on the dot," lineman Ty Berkenpas said. "I knew Jace and Kevin were good together — they've been together their whole life — but I had no clue this was coming."

It didn't come in the first game. Bankord threw for only 59 yards in that 34-14 season-opening loss to Belvidere.

"The whole aspirations of the season were down after that," Tevebaugh said.

He quickly showed it. Bankord threw for more than 300 yards in four of his next seven games. No other NIC-10 QB has four 300-yard games in his career.

North also had injury problems early, losing all three starting defensive linemen and even its top backup lineman to injuries.

But top running back Scot Hornick returned three weeks ago, allowing Dworzynski to move from running back to his natural wing back position, and Bankord and Tevebaugh have excelled since Week 2.

"And we're still early on in Jace's career," coach Jeff Beck said.

"Our whole offense is juniors," Tevebaugh said. "It's exciting thinking about what we'll be able to do."

So much of that starts with Bankord, the nephew of Heartland Church co-founder Mark Bankord, and Tevebaugh, the brother of Kyle Tevebaugh, who quarterbacked Belvidere's last playoff win in 2007.

"We have a good chemistry together," Tevebaugh said. "When he's in trouble, I get in spots and we know where each other is going."

"Kevin is a big kid and has long arms," the 6-foot-1, 175-pound Bankord said of the 6-2, 175-pound Tevebaugh. "It's like we read each other's minds. If no one is open, I'll throw it up to Kevin and see what happens. Either he gets it or nobody gets it."

"Kevin has a pretty unique skill set for a high school wide receiver," Beck said. "He runs himself open with really good routes and I have not been around a receiver with better body control and ball skills than Kevin. But he's not going to run an 8-yard hitch and run away from people. We give him (grief) watching film because he has been caught so many times from behind."

When North catches teams from behind, it's on the strong right arm of Bankord. But he also puts the blame on himself for at least two of North's losses.

"When I play good, our offense is playing good. That's part of being quarterback," he said. "When you are playing well, that's when the team gets going. That's how it's got to be. That's part of playing that spot."

Next up for North is the Class 6A playoffs. No 5-4 NIC-10 has ever missed the postseason since the league expanded to 10 teams when North opened its doors. If so, North hopes to take its cue from Bankord and Tevebaugh and live up to Cacciatore's words that the Blue Thunder is no ordinary 5-4 team.

"We still have a lot more we can accomplish," lineman Rosendahl said. "We just want to keep going."